Mathew 6:33

In my last post we looked at the fact that God feeds the birds and clothes the lilies, but they do no work. Yet God takes care of them anyway.

Mathew 6:32 says not to worry about the things that we need. Because God already knows our needs and He will supply us with them. But these are the things that the gentiles or the lost seek after. Mathew assures us that God already knows about our needs.

Mathew 6:33 says that we should first seek after the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and all of these things will be given to us.

To seek means to worship, to desire, to enquire or to seek after. The word Kingdom when taken back to the Greek means, the one who rules the kingdom or the foundation of power in the kingdom. The word Righteousness when taken back to the Greek, means the equity of character. It's God's character that we are taking about, obviously. His Character is perfect, He is Holy.

When put totally together, this is what we have: We are to worship, to desire, to enquire of, or seek after God who is the power or authority in His Kingdom. We are also to seek after the equity of God's character.

Jesus said of Himself, that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Galatians 6:7 says that whatever a person sows that is what they will reap. Those who sow to their flesh will reap corruption. But those who sow to the Spirit will reap life everlasting.

Based on these scriptures, we can know that God's character is the consistency of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit, which is: Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. In order to get the fullness of the strength of God's character we would need to exegetically dig the meanings out of all of these words. Bear with me and we will do it.

It's so easy to lose sight of these things in our daily lives. Especially with everything going on in our lives and in the world around us daily. But, these are truly the Basics To Life. Next time we will begin to look in depth at each fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Kingdom Living

To be a citizen of a country or a kingdom means that one has a responsibility to uphold the laws of the land in their own lives. We basically know what those are, which ever country that may be. But to be a citizen means one also has rights and privileges, as a result of their citizenship status.

No matter which country you live in today, the economy is probably down turned. The unemployment rate is probably up, the stock market is probably down. The economic environment has more than likely soured. But it you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour you are a member of the Kingdom of Heaven, no matter what country you physically live in.

As a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven you are not living on the economy of the country in which you physically live. The Bible says, that as Christians we are to walk by faith and not by sight. Meaning that even though things look bleak, we are not subject to such bleakness. Paul wrote in his letter to the Philippians, that God will provide for all of our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Sometimes God will allow us to go through things such as, a job loss, an illness, or even a direct financial loss of some kind. But, in Romans 8:28, Paul writes, all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. The Lord will provide for our needs as we go through those things.

A recent poll reveals that 25% of people cannot sleep at night, because of the economic fears. But, Jesus told us in the Sermon On The Mount, to be anxious for nothing. Because God feeds the birds of air and clothes the lilies. He knows that we have need of food and clothing also. He goes on to say, but seek first, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things shall be added to you. God is our Father, the Bible says that if you being evil, provide good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven provide good gifts to you.

God wants us to sleep well at night. He will meet our needs, because we are living on God's economy not the world's economy. Next time we will look at what is means to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

How To Weather A Storm

It is no secret that our nation is currently in an economic quagmire. It has been building for decades. It's not just our country, it has become a world wide problem.

While the problem itself has taken the form of an economic one, I don't believe it started there. I believe the bigger problem is a moral one. We as a nation have forsaken God in our hearts, which has spread into the public realm.

We have allowed the Bible and prayer to be taken out of our schools. This has lead to the 10 Commandments being stripped from the our courtroom walls. This nation was started for the purpose of religious freedom. And, now we have allowed that freedom to be taken from us.

If we are going to survive as a nation, we must first survive as people. In order to do that, we must incorporate into our lives, the very purpose for which this nation began. We must fill our hearts and lives with scripture and in turn live it out. In short, we must once more become a godly people. Revelation 3:2 says, "Be watchful and strengthen those things which remain, that are ready to die". In other words, we must be diligent to do those things in our lives which are godly and biblical that we have become lax about doing in times past. Don't let them fade away. We must learn the ways of scripture once more, and live accordingly.

We must strengthen the biblical foundation in our lives. There is a storm brewing in our nation and in our world. If we want to weather this storm, we must be anchored in the truth. God's word is the truth we must live by.

The attacks that have weakened our Judeo-Christian roots are not letting up. They are not going away. They are increasing in intensity and strength, and so must we. We must wake-up and prepare ourselves. We must live increasingly by the truth of scripture. We must build up the foundations of truth in our lives.

We must be more solid in our faith and commitment to Jesus Christ than ever before. We must change our lives to make sure we have a deeper relationship to Him.

There will be more to come!!

Building A Foundation That Lasts

There are some well known and some not so well know Christian leaders who have the mindset that no christian children should attend public schools. They believe all christian children should be home schooled, and if that's not possible they should be enrolled in private christian schools.

Their contention is that all public schools are filled with humanism. As a result, all christian children who attend public school will walk away from the Lord. I agree with them that public schools do teach humanism. But, many private christian schools do as well. That stuff has been brought right into the church, believe it or not. I have nothing against home schooling, but that's not for everyone.

Too many times, in the world of christendom, the church tries to make it seem like one size should fit all. But, it doesn't and it never will. Let's face it, home schooling a child does not guarantee they will have a thriving relationship with Christ.

The best way for parents to encourage their children to follow Jesus, is to help them build a solid foundation in His Word. That can start on day one of a child's life. A good place to start is reading the scriptures to your infant. Despite popular belief, babies understand a whole lot more than they are given credit for.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9, says Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are away on a journey, when you are lying down and when you are getting up again. Tie them to your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Parents are to disciple their children in the things of the Lord, most especially His Word. I think this scripture text makes that pretty clear. You may say, that's old testement and it was for Israel. And you would be correct to say that. However, the Lord was telling parents how to raise their children to believe in Him. This definitely carries forward. The Bible also says that children are a heritage to the Lord. They are only His heritage if those children grow up believing in Him, and the fact that the scriptures even say that, implies that God wants children to grow up believing in Him.

The more that children are exposed to God's Word, the more they will understand and want to hear it. The more that children are exposed to God's Word, the stronger their moral compass will be. The more they are exposed to God's Word, the less likely they are to pick up on worldly ideas like humanism.

And let's face it. Humanism is everywhere, you will even find it in most churches and christian universities today, even though it is usually very subtle. Chances are the place you work is filled with it as well. So children will be exposed to it sooner or later. If a child is totally secluded from the real world, he/she will more than likely fall flat on their face on the day they are ultimately exposed to it. Like it or not, that day is coming.

I would rather my child be exposed to it while I can still influence him, than to wait until a time when he is no longer under my roof, where I can no longer have the same level of influence or encouragement in his life.

I believe parents have to educate their children in a way that is best for them. Children are all different, and as parents we need to find the best fit for each one, whether that be a public school, a private school, or home schooling.

But no matter which option you pick, it is up to parents to teach their children the Word of God and how to apply it to their lives. The best way is for them to see us as parents living it out before them. But, we as parents need to study the scriptures for ourselves first. This is the only way your child will have a solid foundation in scripture